During a meeting on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) Board of Supervisors made their final vote to adopt their proposed budget for fiscal year 2024, which includes a $3.1 million cut to roadway repairs and maintenance around Walt Disney World Resort.

Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) Approves New Budget

The budget passed unanimously in today’s meeting, approving the $3.1 million cut to roadway repairs and maintenance around Walt Disney World.

Earlier in today’s meeting, District Administrator Glen Gilzean Jr. blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and the global supply chain for not planning to do more road maintenance around Walt Disney World, and stated that the $3.1 million was not “cut,” but rather, given back to taxpayers.

Read the full quote from Gilzean below:

[…] I would like to address the media narrative that recently popped up in headlines that indicates that our budget is cutting $3.1 million in roadway repairs and maintenance around Walt Disney World Resort.

Our budget spends $13 million this upcoming fiscal year on roads around the district, including our investment of $2.7 million in phase one of our guardrail project to bring our guardrail up to the Florida Department of Transportation’s standards.

Any budget adjustments weren’t ‘cut.’ Instead, these were elements, due to the construction and maintenance projects that we are, that we tangibly cannot fill, due to lingering effects of the pandemic and global supply chain.

We intend to continue the regular maintenance schedule for fiscal year ’25, when those tools we need to undertake these projects become available.

In the meantime, we’ve returned $3.1 million of those dollars back to our taxpayers. Work can resume in the next fiscal year, barring continued supply chain disruption.

District Administrator Glen Gilzean, Jr.

The budget notes “Repairs and maintenance services decreased due to option to due [sic] less paving rehab.” The District budgeted $18.3 million and spent $16.6 million for roadway repairs and maintenance in FY 2023. They propose a budget of $13.4 million for FY 2024.

The roadways owned by CFTOD include World Drive, which has been undergoing a years-long update to improve traffic around Magic Kingdom. Other affected roadways could include Buena Vista Drive, EPCOT Center Drive, Osceola Parkway, and Western Way.

The cut budget doesn’t necessarily mean significant problems for the roads, unless serious issues arise in the future.

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